A Conversation with Dr. Bruce Perry about Trauma
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
05/24/23
•53m
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Join us as Dr. Bruce Perry answers your questions about how trauma impacts adoptive, foster, and kinship kids and families. Dr. Bruce Perry, is a child psychiatrist and neuroscientist, the principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, and adjunct Professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. He is the author the numerous books including co-author along with Oprah Winfrey of What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, and co-author of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog.
In this episode, we cover:
- The shift in perspective from what’s wrong with you to what happened to you--the ability to understand seemingly senseless behavior by looking at what’s behind it.
- What do you include as “trauma”? How severe does it have to be to impact us later in life?
- We hear foster, adoptive, and kinship parents say, “she was only neglected.” Is neglect less harmful than abuse?
- When siblings are separated in foster care and parents are taken completely away from seeing the children for a year at a time does this lack of contact count as trauma and how does this type of no-touch abuse effect the child's brain?
- How common is trauma? ACE study.
- Does trauma at a young age have longer lasting impacts?
- We have a child who is chronologically 3yrs, who had a non-accidental TBI at 3 months of age. He is a sweet boy but prone to rages and is very loud. Could this be from the trauma or is it his age and frustration?
- How can parents help their child manage trauma if they don’t know what the trauma was?
- The times of healing are often very short but very powerful. And that the more times our kids experience healing, even in short bursts, the more their brain "re-develops" in healthier ways.
- Is there is an association between trauma and sensory processing and if so, do we know why?
- How do you become “unstuck” on being a victim? My daughter is 18 and is struggling to become an adult, but constantly feels and acts as though she is still a victim from her past.
- Can you discuss how trauma is related to the sabotage of relationships, family events, life events, and opportunities?
- Prenatal trauma—
- in utero exposure to alcohol or drugs
- maternal stress
- Can generational trauma be passed down genetically through the various forms of DNA?
- Resilience and Healing: My question is coming from the perspective as an adoptive and foster mom of some kids who have some pretty big behaviors. Can we really grow these kids and help them live happy, well-adjusted lives? Not problem free, but a life where after many years of love, they will come to find peace within themselves?
- I have two children who are currently in foster care because their father was abusive and I stayed with him and allowed my children to witness the abuse. Is there any way to reverse the trauma?
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodca
Please leave us a rating or review
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Previous Episode
Transitioning from Foster Care to Adoption
May 17, 2023
•55m
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Are you thinking about adopting from foster care or adopting a child you are already fostering? Are you wondering how to help the child transition to adoption? Our guests are Hope Middlebrook, a foster parent recruiter for Arrow Child and Family Services, and Jennifer O’Brien, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Regional Director for Arrow’s Foster Care Programs.
In this episode, we cover:
- Two different scenarios:
- You are the foster parents of the child you are going to adopt.
- You are adopting a child who is living with another foster family.
- At what age do kids understand the concept of adoption and what it means in their life?
- If you are adopting a child you are fostering.
- How is adoption different from fostering?
- What are some typical emotions (positive and negative) a child might feel? Grief is to be expected.
- How far in advance should the child be informed?
- What are some typical behaviors you might see?
- What are some typical emotions and behaviors you might see from other children already living in your home?
- If you are adopting a child living with another resource family or group home.
- What are some typical emotions (positive and negative) a child might feel? Grief is to be expected.
- How far in advance should the child be informed?
- How long should the process take?
- What can the adults do to make the process less stressful for the child?
- What are some typical behaviors you might see from a child that is moving to yet another home and another parent?
- What are some typical emotions and behaviors you might see from other children already living in your home?
- What are the pros and cons of changing the child’s name? First name? Last name?
- What are some tips for parents to help their child transition from foster child to adopted child? Some of these will apply to a child you are fostering and some to a child whom you are not fostering.
- Get all the information on the child available from his file, caseworker, and previous foster parents.
- Decide what type of relationship you can have with your child’s birth family. Come up with ways to help your child maintain safe connections to their biological roots.
- Work with the former foster family and the child or youth to determine what type of relationship can continue with the foster family after the child moves to your home.
- Go slow. Ideally, visit the child first in their foster home, then take the child out for the day, then have the child spend the night with the adoptive family, then the weekend before they finally move in.
- Give the child/youth as much voice in the process as possible.
- Anticipate problems and come up in advance with ways to work through them and outside resources to use.
- Create a Lifebook for your child and use this book to help explain some of the differences between foster care and adoption. Get pictures from the foster family and the caseworker.
- Prepare children already in the home for an adjustment period and how kids who have experienced trauma might behave.
- Think about how you will maintain a tie to their cultural, racial, or ethnic roots.
- Identify support for yourself. You will, at some point, likely feel discouraged, frustrated, and maybe even regretful. Where will you turn for support?
- Rite of passage at finalization.
- What to do if the tween or teen does not want to be adopted?
- How to explore the youth’s reasons?
- Allow space to change their mind.
- What other options are available outside of adoption?
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foste
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Next Episode
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
May 31, 2023
•51m
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Are you parenting teens, or will you be in a few years? Don't miss today's conversation with psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour, author of the book, "The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents."
In this episode, we cover:
- Our society has become afraid of being unhappy. What are the reasons for this?
- Studies seem to suggest that teens are unhappier now than in the past. Why?
- Three myths about adolescence.
- The adultification of black teens.
- Why do our teens find us so annoying?
- The goal is not always to avoid conflict with our teens; rather, it should be to learn how to have constructive conflict.
- You say that spending time online can be both good and bad for teens.
- What should parents know about porn?
- How carefully should you supervise what your teens are seeing online?
- How can parents keep technology in place? What are some common-sense rules?
- The importance of small pleasures in modulating the mood of our teens.
Resource:
American Psychological Association: Health advisory on social media use in adolescence
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
- Weekly podcasts
- Weekly articles/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
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